


steal some covers, share some skin.

by katarama



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Crushes, M/M, Morning After, Polyamory Negotiations, Running
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-16 18:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11258610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katarama/pseuds/katarama
Summary: “Get your clothes on, we’re going running,” Holster whispers so loudly that it almost doesn’t qualify as a whisper.  Dex moves to nudge Ransom awake, but Holster shakes his head.“Just you and me.  Bring a hat, it’s cold.”





	steal some covers, share some skin.

Dex has never minded mornings much.  He was always up early anyway, between hockey and his uncles; getting things done in the early morning meant beating the heat and the sun, or getting some time to himself on the ice.  He does most of his heavy thinking in the morning, whether it’s taking a crack at some tough coding or banging his head against the lit. books that Nursey seems to find so easy.

Nursey isn’t a morning person, in the slightest.  He’s made that perfectly clear every time Dex has jostled him awake by accident at 4:30 AM, before either of their alarms have gone off.  Dex makes up for it, sometimes.  He brings coffee for Nursey to sip at and tucks away the image of Nursey’s eyes half-lidded and his thighs and waist wrapped loosely in Dex’s sheets.  It’s almost peaceful.  Mornings are peaceful.

This morning feels even more relaxed than usual, though it isn’t Dex’s bed they’re sharing.  Dex’s back will kill him later for thinking he could manage a night squeezing three bulky hockey players into an air mattress on the floor.  But for now, all he feels is the quiet kind of ache that comes with being stretched wide open by bigger fingers he’s less used to, his muscles sore in a satisfying way from sex that’s more active than the sleepy handjobs on a roadie he and Nursey manage this time of year.  

Nursey snores from the other end of the air mattress, and Dex is almost glad for the obnoxious sound.  It’s familiar, at least.  It’s something that he’s slowly getting used to.

Waking up to Ransom’s body curled into his side, on the other hand, is something he doesn’t think he ever will get used to, no matter how many times they do this.  Ransom usually does make it back up to his top bunk, or if he gets lazy, squeezes in with Holster.  But these mornings after, the ones after intense nights where Ransom was too tired and fucked-out, too sweaty and warm and sleepy, to get himself up off the questionable air mattress, are Dex’s favorite.  There’s something about seeing Ransom’s eyelashes and cheekbones and full lips in the dim light that fills his chest with fond, warm feelings.  He always has to remind himself not to ruin the moment, not to lean over and kiss Ransom awake.

He’s not a big fan of morning breath, anyway.  It probably wouldn’t be worth it.  It’d probably lead to Ransom jolting away and clacking teeth and knocking a grumpy Nursey off the side of the air mattress.  

Still, it’s tempting.  Very tempting.  Tempting enough he gets caught up in thinking about the idea for a little too long, and he doesn’t notice anyone moving clumsily around the air mattress until Holster’s nudging Dex’s ankle with his shoe.

“Get your clothes on, we’re going running,” Holster whispers so loudly that it almost doesn’t qualify as a whisper.  Dex moves to nudge Ransom awake, but Holster shakes his head.

“Just you and me.  Bring a hat, it’s cold.”

Dex doesn’t point out that he didn’t need Holster to tell him that it’d be cold in the early morning in Massachusetts in February.  But he groans and he carefully edges away from Ransom, putting some space between them before he finally gets up.  He puts his clothes and running shoes on as dread builds in his gut, and by the time he finally stuffs his keys and phone in his pocket, he’s avoiding looking Holster in the eye.

He takes longer than he needs to stretching out, but he can’t stall this out indefinitely.  Eventually, he and Holster have to leave the Haus porch and start a steady jog, or they risk freezing their asses off from standing still too long.

So they jog.  And Dex waits.  He waits as they head towards the river and waits as they run up by Faber and waits as they cross over the river.  Holster hums as they run, and it should honestly make Dex feel better, because it’s a sign that Holster isn’t upset or angry, that this abrupt running trip isn’t going to be him chewing Dex out.  Mostly, though, it just puts Dex on edge.

“What’s up with this?” he finally demands as they run their first lap past Founder’s.  

Holster doesn’t bother with any sort of bluster, any kind of ‘isn’t a captain allowed to drag his player out for a mid-February morning run?’ or ‘just wanted some quality time with my teammate?’

“You should just tell him you like him, bro,” Holster says calmly.  “It’s not that hard.”

“You’re kidding me,” Dex says.  His tone probably comes off flatter than he intends it to, but Holster doesn’t bat an eye.  

“Nursey’s dating Ransom, Nursey’d be psyched about you getting in on that,” Holster says.  “You’ve clearly got some sexual compatibility.”

“We’ve _all_ got sexual compatibility,” Dex points out.  “We wouldn’t be hooking up together if we didn’t.  I’m not about to start dating you.”

They cross the bridge in silence and head back up the river again.  “Just because I don’t want to date anyone else doesn’t mean Rans doesn’t want to date anyone else,” Holster says.  “But if you don’t want to say anything, I’m not going to talk you into dating my boyfriend.  That’s your call.  I was just tossing it out there that you’re not really subtle, and Ransom’s not oblivious.  Better on your terms than his, if it’s gonna go south, right?”

It isn’t exactly a reassuring talk, and it leaves Dex with more questions than answers.  He tries to probe a little bit, to feel out if Holster knows something he isn’t telling.  Dex figures that Holster wouldn’t have said anything if he thought the whole thing would crash and burn.  Holster and Ransom are boyfriends, talk a lot.  If anyone knew where Ransom stood, it’d be Holster.

Holster is vague but encouraging.  He doesn’t give away much in the next lap around, so Dex eventually gives up.  They run another half a lap around the campus in relative silence before slowing to a walk to cool down.  

By the time they get back up to the attic, Ransom’s at his desk and Nursey’s playing on his phone, dressed and ready for breakfast.  They head to the dining hall, falling into the usual morning routine of waiting in line and grabbing their food and heading back to the table, only for Ransom to start teasing Holster for his bowl full of eggs that they know he’ll end up sharing, anyway.

Nursey keeps shooting Dex looks, the unsubtle probing kind that are more eyebrow than anything.  They both know that Dex’s usual morning run partners boil down to a pretty short list: always Jack when he’s in town, but mostly Chowder or Nursey or Ransom.  Dex dismisses Nursey’s questioning gaze for now.  He says he’ll explain later, though he doesn’t make any promises as to when later is.

Dex isn’t looking to upend anything.  He knows that what they’re doing is already kind of weird, with the four of them having occasional group sex and with Nursey and Ransom both dating multiple people.  He knows that, as weird as it is, what they have right now works for them.  He knows it’d probably be even weirder if he tried to edge his way in, especially if Ransom wasn’t interested.  It’d make things weird with Nursey and Ransom and it’d make things weird with Dex and Ransom.

But all through breakfast, Ransom keeps asking for Dex’s input.  And when Dex answers, Ransom listens, and he offers a fistbump sometimes and sometimes he even wraps an arm around Dex’s shoulder, and Nursey snickers at how hot it makes Dex’s face go.

Dex may be hesitant to talk about his feelings, and Dex may not want to screw things up.  

But with Holster’s words and Ransom’s smiles in his head, he suspects he’s going to end up sitting Nursey down for a polyamory talk sooner rather than later.

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr [here](http://polyamorousparson.tumblr.com).


End file.
